The technology in Self-Driving Cars

All self-driving cars typically involve the same basic principle of operation. The driver or passenger sets a destination. The cars software calculates the route and starts the car on its way. Although the basic principle is the same across the spectrum, different cars may differ in individual technologies incorporated into them.
  A typical self-driving car functions in the following manner. After the driver sets the destination and the car starts, a rotating sensor mounted on the roof and other sensors attached elsewhere get activated. Sensors generally consists of technologies like Laser, Radar and camera images.
   One such sensor technology used in self-driving cars is LIDAR  (Light Detection and Ranging). The LIDAR system maps the objects around the car in 3D and accurately pinpoints the cars location, which helps it create a picture of the cars surroundings. Another technology used in self-driving cars is GPU  (Graphics Processing Units), which interprets visual data coming from the sensors so fast, that there is no lag and response is in real time.
Sensors play an inevitable role in the functioning of self-driving cars. The cars cannot run without the sensors. It is these sensors that give the car the sense and feel of the external surroundings. They act as the eyes of such cars. A sensor on the left rear wheel monitors sideways movement. Radar sensor systems on the front and back calculate the distances to the obstacles. Artificial intelligence software in the car is connected to all the sensors and also to the Google Street View. This software consults satellite and GPS based maps (email. good. , Google Maps) for advance notice of objects, landmarks and traffic signals. This way data is fed into the cars control system, which determines the next move. The software in the cars control system, acts like a human brain and processes information coming from the sensors. The sensors are calibrated for automatic reduction of noise, so that unimportant information is ignored. It takes decisions and thus controls actions in driver-control systems by giving instant commands to steering and breaks. This process is repeated constantly in a loop multiple times per second till the car reaches its final destination. There is an override function that allows humans to take control of the vehicle at any moment during the journey.
The cars control system, which generally contains Artificial intelligence  (AI) based software, maintains an internal map of the cars environment and uses this map to decide which path is best among the few choices to reach the destination. The decision is broken into multiple commands . Finally the commands are sent to the cars actuator which controls the cars steering, braking, etc.
  So this AI-based software which forms a primary part of the car control system and is capable of handling fuzzy logic system, plays a key role in three main functional areas of the car _  perception, planning and control.